


Sea Garden

by airute (siruru)



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Childhood Friends, Developing Relationship, Eventual Romance, F/M, First Crush, Fix-It of Sorts, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Possible Character Death, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-06 13:43:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14058219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siruru/pseuds/airute
Summary: Please come back home.[Dino Cavallone/Reader]





	1. pursuit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jiracchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiracchi/gifts).



> This fic has been a long time coming, since I promised to write a sequel to ["dressed in blue"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13577973/chapters/31231140) back in 2015. I don't know what exactly happened, but revisiting "Stay" pushed into writing this and being almost done with the whole in nearly 3 days. If you're an old reader, I hope you enjoy and if you're new please consider reading the oneshot beforehand. 
> 
> If you like some background stuff, all these chapters will be named in someway after poems by H.D from [Sea Garden](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/amverse/BAD4143.0001.001?view=toc).

__

“I’m sorry.”

It'sall he can hear ringing in his ears, as she smiles. She doesn’t try reaching out to him; she just falls limply into his body. He crushes her body into his and yells for his men to find the culprit –the woman he had just called his fiancée a couple of hours- that has run out of the Cavallone grounds. She keeps murmuring his name, as it becomes harder to breathe because the blood is slowly filling up her lungs and staining his white shirt a bright crimson. Her life is being taken away right in front of him, but she seems fine with the situation at hand. Maybe, deep down she knew that knowing –loving- him would be the death of her in the long run. She whispers something to him with her last shaky breath, but the blood coming out of her mouth stops him from hearing anything she is trying to say. He keeps repeating her name in the hope of receiving response. The medics come over to where he is standing, trying to pry him away from her.  
Romario says something and then Dino is greeted with a burning brightness.

“Same dream again, sir?”

“Ow!”

Dino bolts up and proceeds to fall of his bed, as the sunlight begins to break through the thick curtains of his room. He grumbles as Romario begins to set up breakfast. The tenth Cavallone boss had never been a deep sleeper due to his lifestyle, but sleep had become more elusive over the past months since receiving his future self’s memories. Some memories were more pleasant than others, but they always lead to the same place by the end of the night – it was a reminder that his future self could not seem to let go of. Romario stands near the door with the breakfast cart besides him, as Dino brushed a hand through his hair in a lethargic manner. The dream had been fuzzy throughout the months he had begun having it, but last night it was at its most vivid. It was then he came to realize who the woman who had been haunting him was. He began to remove the bed sheet from his body and get out of bed for a new day, as Romario smiled and asked the same question he did every morning. 

“What will we be doing today, sir?”

“We’re going to Japan.”

* * *

It isn’t hard to find her once he gets to Japan. To be exact, he lands in Kanagawa by mid-afternoon because it is there where she is currently studying for her second degree. His brain tells him that it is in teaching because the first –the one she ran away to London fot- is in mathematics. It does not surprise him that she wants to be a teacher; she had always been good at explaining things to others and had always been kind to those younger than her. He briefly wonders how his future self found out her location. It had been four years since she had left Italy and both her and her mother had been hiding her location from him. Her mother did not say anything when he asked in the beginning and she never sent any letters. Eventually, Dino grew busy with pulling back his family from ruin. He had grown complacent without having her in his life, like most adults do with losing touch with friends throughout the years. However, he also had one of the best networks in his control along with Reborn, he could find her in a moment’s notice if need be. The thought eases his anxiety a bit, as a group of older students begins to exit an old school building.

“Maybe, we should hold a study group next week.”

“Sure!”

The blond knows that she is going to turn her face and spot him. It’s strange because he has a memory that this has happened before, but it to a different version of themselves. She turns her head as the rest of her classmates begin scatter into different directions. She pauses and he smiles and his previous anxiety disappears to be replaced by the image of the charismatic boss that has been crafted over the years. She is confused for a moment, but smiles at him easily and without fear. Yet, he can see the apprehension in her eyes, but his own selfish happiness makes him ignore it. She walks over to where he is standing with some of her female classmates stopping and murmuring about the strange sight in front of them. She stands a few steps away from him and gives Romario a nod and smile before turning her attention to him. He grins as she takes a deep breath to calm herself, as Dino has to remind himself that she still has the same anxiety problems that he once, at times still, dealt it. She clutches her books a bit closer to her body before she starts speaking.

“Dino! It’s been awhile.”

“It has been.”

They walk out of the university grounds, but she never lets Dino physically come near her. He knows he'll have to destroy these walls of fear and self-doubt because the future won't repeat itself with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> catch me on the flip side: [writing tumblr](http://the-canary.tumblr.com/)


	2. sea rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> adding two chapters the first go because i posted the first one a long while ago. 
> 
> also, consider listening to [nada es igual - belanova](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BK430Ny-ac)

_The sun is shining through his curtains with a bouquet set delicately on his desk. He would usually be asleep this early in the morning, but there is something more important he has to deal with. Today, one of his closest friends was leaving towards the next stop of her life, though it was in a country several kilometers away. However, she had reassured him that it wasn’t that far away –“not across the ocean or the other side of the world”, she laughed at his worries- and she would call or write whenever she could. He buttons up his shirt and prepares for the long day ahead because there were still things that his family needed from him, especially when it was near the brink of ruin. He heaves a sigh and put on his trademark jacket and grabs the flower bouquet delicately placed on his desk. The Cavallone heir grabs them and smiles, prepared to drive to her home and take her to the airport, but Romario is already standing beside his door and looks at him with a tight face._

__

_“She’s already left, sir.”_

_“What?”_

_“Earlier this morning, her mother informed that she had left on the earliest flight.”_

_Dino pauses and sits back down on his bed. Romario stares at him for a moment, as the blonde places his hand on top of his face. He places the flower bouquet next to him and begins to laugh softly. Romario just shakes his head before leaving and closing the door behind him._

__

_“Why is she so stubborn?”_

* * *

“Why is he so stubborn?”

You mutter, as you come out of your late afternoon class. Three weeks, the blond had been following you for three weeks. It wasn’t that he was exactly following you, but he made sure that you spent your small class breaks with him. It usually meant eating lunch with him or talking with him about whatever came it mind, while walking around campus. People, especially the females in your classes, were starting to talk and question you about your constant visitor. They would smile and wave at him, as they came out of class and he returned it, while some of the men would come and stop to talk briefly about sports with the blond. It wasn’t that different from when the two of you were young, but his charisma definitely shined brighter now than it had done before. It almost made you a little envious because it always hadn’t been like this – you hadn’t always been such a coward. Nevertheless, he turns his back on them when he sees you walking towards his general direction. The two of you match each other’s steps while walking towards a small café not too far away from campus. He begins to ask you how your day went, but you stop him and defensively ask him question of your own. 

“Dino, why did you come find me?”

“Mmm…” he hums his response because he can’t really tell you that he wants to prevent the future memories that he had sent himself…from the future. He sighs and places his chin on top of his hand, his golden-brown eyes turning to stare directly into yours for a moment.

_I don’t want to you to die. I don’t want to lose you._

This are just some of the things that he wants to tell you, spill out all the secrets of how you never see each other again and yet you somehow still manage to die in his arms, like some tragic romance and that your complacent smile still haunts him even if he doesn’t dream about them anymore since seeing you again. However, he can’t really say all that because he knows somewhere deep down, for whatever reason, he had lost you –lost you even before you left Italy—for reasons he still wasn’t aware of. So, he smiles and keeps the darker thoughts away with an easy smile.

“I missed you,” a compressed version of all he wants to say, but even when its all out in the air, it still surprises the both of you. Your eyes widen, and he notices faint blush on your face, and he finds himself liking that look, his smile turning a little softer. 

 

“It’s not like you couldn’t find me, Dino,” you spat back meekly at him. It was supposed to be harsher than intended because how can you justify anything when you have been the one running away, hoping for this exact conclusion. 

“Well now, I did and you’re not getting rid of me that easily,” he chuckles at you shaking your head and its almost like your kids again before that summer, as Romario watched off in the distance. You eat a little dinner and put all your nervous effort into catching up. There’s laughs, jokes, and stories thrown around and---

It’s almost like falling in love again, and you can’t help but wonder if he ever notices that blue ribbon tied around your wrist.


	3. sea lily

_meet me again in italy."_

_you lie and say that you will._

He remembers somethings more vividly even after no longer having the guidance of his future self’s memories haunting him on a nightly basis anymore. Dino knows that the months leading up to your graduation from the university in Kanagawa are filled with pressure back home, fighting between mafia families forces him back home – he makes you promise something and you break it. He can’t have that, not in this life time. So, he does something different this time around. After your daily classes (not to far away from the café you frequent), the day before he is supposed to leave for home again, he gives you a small plant and a black phone. You stare at him in confusion as he laughs.

“I have to go back home for a bit,” he knows the other Dino’s words like the back of his hand by now, but this is different, “I should be back by your graduation though.”

He smiles, you frown but the changes have already been made. Something deep in his heart is telling him that he can’t give up on you, not like when you left for England…not like when you--

“Then what are the plant and phone for?” you ask, annoyance and confusion lodged in the question and if he played closer attention, a bit of fear. 

“So that you’ll remember by when I’m gone,” his smile softens while staring at the flower as you keep starting at him – fear and anticipation running through your veins, “and the phone is so we can talk when I’m gone, silly.” 

You stiffen at the thought of Dino still seeking you out, at the feel of his fingers brushing over yours. He’s looking at you in a certain way you had never seen before and it makes your heart stop for just a moment before you back away from him slightly. He wants to ask why, but the blush on your face gives him more answers than you ever could, and if Romario wasn’t here – he’s sure he would have fallen by now. 

“I’ll come back, and we’ll celebrate,” he grins at the different set of words he declares, because its his own silent promise that he’ll running after you now; he isn’t letting you out of his sight again. You breathe and nod with a shy smile, and the mafia boss loses himself for a moment. 

“Ok, I’ll be waiting,” is all you really can say because it’s what you been doing more than half of your life. He almost brushes your cheek, almost kisses it but knows it’s not the time and place for that yet because for all the confidence that he pretends to have, Dino still reverts to the 13-year old boy whenever he’s with you.

“Take care, ok?” it is your only plea, as you tie the blue bracelet with a small sun charm on his right wrist; the matching moon necklace resting firmly on your chest. 

Someone calls out your name, saying that you’re late and the little moment is broken. You squeeze his wrist and drag him down to your face-level and plant a light kiss on his cheek. Before he can say anything, you’re already running down the beaten path back to the university. 

“Are you all right, sir?” Romario asks the red-faced Dino, as the younger man can only nod though a moment later he trips as he tries to walk, and he ends up falling over and over again. It takes him awhile to get back his scenes. 

And Dino can’t help but wonder on his flight back home (with a goofy grin on his face the entire time) if you know the meaning of the white flowers he has given you. Lily of the valley – sweetness and the _return of happiness_.


	4. sea violet

_Once everything had settled down, Dino Cavallone plans the next few months to have some free time for when his childhood friend graduates and finally returns home. He plans a small intimate party with the idea of catching up on all that they had missed and maybe asking her what she is planning to do in the future – and maybe they can go beyond that. Be friends again, have her by his side as a confident._

_But he never gets to do that because he never gets anything back from her that might say that she is back to Italy, and when he finally finds the courage to ask her mother, she states the worst. That she had gone and taken a job back in England, she wasn’t sure when her daughter was coming back, if she ever was._

_She had run away again, and for his own sanity Dino couldn’t find the courage to go after her, especially if her happiness lay elsewhere._

This time around, Dino doesn’t think about the fear and rejection that he might face. He tries his hardest to call you every other night, even with the subtle time difference. He asks about your day and classes and you find the heart to ask about the current situation with the Cavallone and how he is feeling about everything, and even if it takes him awhile he finds himself opening up to you about his hidden mafia world. He tries to keep as much under wraps as he can, but your subtle tenacity wins him over when he is too tired or drained to keep his mouth shut. It’s those particular days when you send him photos of the plant, or of the scenery, or of the food you might have had throughout the day.

He plays with the little sun charm when there is too much on his mind throughout the day, or when he feels himself wanting to ask you a certain question. All he can do is blush and trip (from the emotions and the alcohol), as Squalo yells at him about the subject for what seems like the 20th time. 

“VOIII! JUST ASK HER ALREADY!?” 

With a red face and shy smile, he does. A thumping heart and head welcome him into the next day, but there is a ping that catches his attention in the haze that enters the midday hangover coming over him. He turns to the other side of bed and sees there is a photo attachment to her message this time around. It’s her in a small room, wearing a light blue dress that reaches her knees with ruffles that shimmer under the artificial lighting. A timid smile on her face as she holds her phone to take a picture. _My graduation dress_ , she had typed before hand and Dino can’t help the goofy smile growing on his face as he lays his head on the pillow, a lovesick sigh leaving him. However, it is hard to say if he’ll remember a certain phrase leaving his mouth at that very moment.

“She _still_ looks pretty in blue.”

* * *

You blush at the large group of black-suited men yelling your name at the end of the graduation ceremony. Outside of some few friends saying goodbye, it is mainly the Cavallone men that celebrated your newest milestone with warm greetings and flowers, while there is an extreme group –a bit older, surely those that knew you as a child—with a banner of your name, as you take a picture with all of them, even Romario congratulates you like a proud father would their child. However, the thing that surprises you the most is having Dino standing there with that huge silly smile on his face and a bouquet of violets placed directly in front of you.

“Congrats!” he grins and you nod, while grabbing the bouquet. Brown eyes give you a glance and he is happy that the flowers pair up so well with your blue dress. He asks you what you want to do for dinner, and all you can answer back with is the familiar café not that far away from the campus. 

Most of the suited men take a seat a few booths down from the two of you, but like gossipy mothers are watching all your actions and placing bets on what might happen next, there are some –like Romario—that have been waiting for years for this to happen. He had seen the two of you meet in an afternoon gala in honor of Dino’s father long ago. He watched over scrapped knees and pillow forts, watched as Dino gained confidence to take over the Cavallone and you lost yours over the women that blonde had in his life. Both of you were cowards in the worst kind of way because you were both afraid of rejection, but in different ways. So, he watches like a hawk, hoping that this will have a happy ending.

“S-So, what are you doing after this?” he stutters in his question because he knows that you’re going to leave, go back to England and possibly to place where he can’t follow because he wants to you to be safe – even if it isn’t (with him) in Italy.

“I’m going back home for a while, I have some job offers there and in England,” you smile shyly, obviously not used to talking about yourself. Dino’s eyes widen, and you cock your head to the side in question before a huge, excited grin grows on his face because you haven’t run away – this is completely different from the future that had been shown to him.

“I could help you get requited with the city again,” Dino gets the courage to ask what he has been meaning to, in a roundabout sort of way, as he turns to look at the landscape outside of the large window, “Show you around.”

“What like a date?” you dare the ask the first question that pops up in to your head.

“Definitely like a date,” he turns back and smiles at the blush dusting your cheeks, and even though there are still several things you need to tie up in Japan, you’re already looking forward to going back home – and that’s something you haven’t said or felt in a long time. 

In the back a group of suited men are cheering, others are crying, as the waitress tries to calm them all down.


	5. sea poppies

To anyone that really knew you, they would say you were a cool-headed person that didn’t show their emotions. You could take control of any situation with fair judgment; you weren’t the type of person that cried at every little thing, and in all honesty, you couldn’t remember the last time you cried. It was probably because of Dino, but you didn’t have the heart in you to remember why. Your mother had taught you be a strong woman after your father died, but she also gave you her biggest fault as well – a fragile, lovesick heart. The heart that lead to loving your father until the day he was killed, the type of heart that let itself forget all the transgressions and sins he committed outside of the home they shared. 

Your mother was a fool, and you were certainly one as well for holding onto Dino as long as you did. For thinking he could still possibly remember that first kiss you shared, for thinking you had a chance when there were even more beautiful women around him 24/7, for thinking he wouldn’t stand you up at a moment’s notice when something more important came along – like now. 

You sit with an iced coffee and small pastry just across the street from the bakery that you used to frequent as a child. It had taken a couple of weeks to come back and settle everything, but in that time, Dino kept in touch the best he could but negotiations had been falling apart and he was needed away more often than not. You understood, you would always understand but with no message or call in the past 30 minutes since your initial meeting time – what were you supposed to think?

_“Does my talking about these mafia issues bother you?”_

_“No, Dino. We’re friends, you can tell me anything.”_

You let out a shaky breath and smooth out the creases of your navy-blue skirt. Since you had seen him again, you weren’t quite sure what game Dino was playing at because you had given up on your feelings years ago, but no, he had to come bursting into your life once again, once again friends but wondering what he was seeking out when he was looking at you in that way. God, all those vile feelings that you buried underneath that tree were coming back, and you weren’t sure what you were going to do. You hang your head down for a moment, trying to regain your breathing though completely unaware of the figure running towards you.

_CRASH! BANG!_

You immediately perk up to see a blonde laying on the paved street in front of you. He mumbles and groans but smiles nonetheless as he hands you a crushed bouquet of daisies. You shake your head at his smile, as he gets up only to take the chair in front of yours, as he weaves a hand through his messy blonde hair. You try your hardest to handle the flowers with care and not get caught ogling at how the afternoon sun is hitting him in all the right ways. 

“I’m sorry,” he pauses trying to catch his breathe as you stare at that sad puppy dog he used to give you as children whenever he was too afraid to do something, “The meeting ran longer than usual and instead of calling, I just ran for it.” 

“It’s okay, Dino. Just give me a heads up, I was about to **leave** ,” you smile and lie because you weren’t going to leave anytime soon. It could have been raining or some other foul weather, but you would still be waiting for him, but he looks at you like his heart is breaking over something. 

“Yeah, I _promise_ ,” he sighs out and almost wants to let out a watery laugh at how the you from this lifetime is saying in your own way that you don’t want to be left behind, when all your other self did was run away from him, but he’s also a little giddy that the future is slowly changing as well.

“So, where are you taking me?” you break your gaze from his and turn to look out at the plaza where some children are playing. 

“Around the town,” he pauses and rubs the back of his neck, “and then maybe the old tree we used to hang out around if you’re up for it.”

_you bury the letter with hopes he will never find it._

Now, it’s your turn to look like something ripped your heart out because it is nostalgia at its best. Coming back to see Dino, being near the old tree where your feelings are buried not that far from where he took your heart – you love it and hate it all the same, but you plan on keeping your mouth shut.

“That’s fine with me,” you say softly, as he gets up and ask for your hand. The rest of the day is spent going through the old neighborhood and seeing how much had changed and what hadn’t. The bakery, the park, and your old school are all still there, but the concert hall and fishing place aren’t, and the butchery has a new owner. Somethings have stayed the same and some haven’t, you’re still the same but you aren’t anymore. 

“So what are your plans now?” he asks, intertwining your fingers into his as the sky turns into an inky black-blue. He can’t see your blush, but he’s smiling at the way you have to stutter your sentence out. 

“I-I’m going to be working at a private school during their summer courses here before heading to the International School they have in England,” you answer back excitedly and go on to talk about the different prospects of teaching. You’re happy and it kills him.

“Are you gonna come back?” he hesitates, turning brown eyes to look at your confused face. 

“What do you mean?” you cock your head and his heart freezes because you’re leaving again, and he might not have the heart to follow you if the future doesn’t seem to change the seemingly inevitable outcome,” …It’s only for a year, then I’m coming back to this school full time. It’s just a pilot program.”

Brown eyes widen at this revelation, as he grabs you and begins to spin you around, much to your dismay. He’s laughing and full of glee that you don’t quite understand, but it leads to the two of you falling onto the grass below due to the blonde’s natural klutziness but by the end of it all you’re laughing too. 

“What’s gotten into you, Dino?” you laugh as his hands are firmly placed on your hips, his chin above your head and your face is buried deeply within his jacket. 

“Complete and utter happiness,” is all he can say because even though a year is too long, he knows he’ll get to see you again – that you’re not leaving him forever like in his dreams.

You’re still here and that’s when he decides to fight for you heart completely.


	6. sea iris

He promises himself that a year isn’t that long of a wait, hell it’s just six months because you’re coming back for the summer courses. He had all the time in the world what with needing to train Hibari, taking care of Tsuna, and all the other Cavallone affairs – he is sure that the time will fly in no time, but his heart doesn’t seem to understand that. It’s just six months until summer but having you so close and around every day had spoiled him rotten. There aren’t any more lunchtime breaks, no surprised dinners, or dragging you away for the weekend when you should be grading papers. It’s like Kanagawa all over again, except it is more than he had gotten the last time, but he wants even more than that now. He wants you. 

It takes him awhile to realize, but he’s in love with his childhood friend, but maybe he had always been in love you and maybe this is just him concluding that he wants it to be a lifetime sort of thing. But, with all this new information, he isn’t exactly sure what the next step is and how he can make those feelings obvious to you. He tries calling you more, sending you gifts, and even flies to visit you a few times, but he doesn’t know how to let those three little words out, unknowingly killing the both of you at the same time. 

It’s a month until you come back for the summer, and Dino is currently in Japan for some mafia business. His former teacher had seen the progress of how lovestruck the younger man had become, and Reborn had a good idea of who might be the cause behind the whole disaster from his own future memories. So, he pulls up a set of familiar words, but with a small twist.

_“Do you really love her?”_

Dino understands the true meaning behind Reborn’s questioning and it was something that he had agonized over a hundred times before because while your father had been a mafioso, he kept your mother and yourself on a different pedestal from everything else in his life. As the Cavallone boss, he couldn’t do that with you – all he could do was protect you the best he could and give you everything he could in the name of his unending love for you. And there it is, **unending love**. Dino blushes and trips on his answer, and Reborn smirks because he already knows the answer on the other side of the equation.

* * *

You’re back home on a sunny June day and while you’re simply expecting to take a taxi back home to your apartment, it almost doesn’t surprise you that Romario is standing next to a black car not to far way from the exit. You huff a little unsure of what Dino might be planning because he has been acting strange for quite some time now – what with helping you pack, calling you whenever you were free (especially with the face timing), sending you gifts, and even coming over to see you on your birthday. Even the gossipy Cavallone men were telling you that he hadn’t seen anyone else in months, and while you did believe them to a certain extent, you didn’t think it was because of you. 

“To what I owe the pleasure, Romario?” you question with a small laugh and all he can do is smile, but you have known the man long enough to know that there is something secretive hidden behind it. 

“A celebration,” he replies vaguely as he places your bags in the trunk and before you know it, you’re heading to who-knows where. 

It takes you awhile to figure where you are going, but nerves start to bombard your system hard at the sight of a familiar, hidden building. It was one of those old mansions that the Cavallone owned in the area, where Dino and you and on a rare occasion Squalo would come and visit for galas and meetings. However, you remembered it for a different reason all together, as the car suddenly felt hotter. 

“We’re celebrating here?” you question, your voice slightly higher than usual due to the anxiety you are feeling because even if you loved the memory, it still reminded you that Dino was never going to be yours. It doesn’t help that Romario only nods to your question.

The black car pulls up to the garden area of the mansion and you can see Dino standing next to a small table, not too far from him are the shadowy walls underneath some sycamore trees, that you remember to vividly. He isn’t dressed up from the usual, but the food and table setting looks like a bit of an upgrade. Your heart is pumping a mile a minute, as the blonde opens the door and gives you a soft smile. 

“Dino, what are you doing?” is the only thing you can really say, forgetting to greet him and trying to let the hope bubbling in your chest from reaching your voice. This could just be a friendship thing he was doing to welcome you back, but those brown eyes have something else in them that you have never seen before. 

Thus, the early dinner goes smoothly as you catch Dino up on all your schooling adventures and how much you enjoyed the students you had for the semester. He tells you about everything that had been going on with the Cavallone, though he skims out on the details here and there. You laugh and share stories until the sun starts disappearing and gives way to darker skies. That’s when the blond grabs you while heading over to the trees, and you suddenly feel like you’re 13 again in that boring gala your father had decided to drag you to for once – though you don’t regret it in the aftermath of it all. Dino is trying to tell you something, but your brain decides to go into overdrive instead. 

“Do you remember your father’s gala?” there were hundreds of galas before and after that incident, but the tight squeeze of Dino’s hand indicates he knows which one you are talking about, and instead of taking the lead. He watches where you are going with all this instead. 

“We were hiding from Squalo’s new sword technique and we ended up near here,” you laugh at the thought of being chased by the Varia member, like it isn’t dangerous at all, “He was yelling out _VOIII_ everywhere and we were just trying not to get our butts kicked.”

“He hasn’t changed much,” Dino quips in with a smile that sends you roaring with laughter. He moves you in the shadier part of the clearing, but still a good vantage point for Romario to see you two – just like before. You’re still laughing when he pulls you in closer, though not as shy as before. 

“Do you remember what happens next?” Dino questions softly and honey brown eyes stare straight into yours. He picks up your chin with calloused fingers and you see a certain sun charm wrapped around his wrist with a blue tether cord. You sigh softly and answer in your own way.

“ _Do I still look good in blue, Dino?_ ” you give the man the most heartbreaking smile he has ever seen because he knows that you remember and looking at the blue flower earnings and matching blouse – you probably never forgot.

Thus, he decides to stop making you wait any longer, as he finally crashes his lips into yours.


	7. sheltered garden

Loving Dino Cavallone wasn’t an easy thing, you knew that from experience but loving a known mafioso was a different thing all together, because there are people that will always be after him and you’ve become an easy way of doing that. It also means that technically Dino is off the market, but that doesn’t stop women from flirting with him, even right in front of you. It eats at you on the inside that there is always going to be someone better for him, someone that understand his role and lifestyle better than you do. God, you try to take everything with stride, but you’ve never been a patient woman. 

Reborn had asked you once with those black, black eyes of his: _Would you be willing to share Dino’s burden?_

In your naivety and love, you had answered yes but truly being with the blond was a completely different thing entirely, children and parents were slowly becoming afraid of you and there was always a black suited man not too far away from you, or maybe they were just more open with the fact that they were watching over you always now. Dino told you things, but you knew that there was a lot of things -the darker things—that he didn’t share with you whenever you talked. In the few galas that you had joined him since becoming a couple, there were women dressed to the nines’ that stared at you a certain way, hell you even seen some of Dino’s old flames and while the man always tried to be a gracious host – all you wanted to do was pull him away from everyone else. 

But, you never spoke your feelings about the subjects that bothered you, and maybe it was that silence that was pulling away Dino. He noticed how lost in your thoughts you could get sometimes, but not knowing what was wrong and if it was his fault or not caused him to move away and give you some space because he loved you above all else (though he was still scared as shit that you’ll decide to end it all and leave for good this time, he still gets nightmares about it still). 

Silence has always been killing you, but now it was slowly suffocating the one thing you had wanted the most. 

_“Darling, you shouldn’t be quite about the things that are bothering you,_ ” your mother used to say, even though she could never take her own damn advice, “ **Love doesn’t grow that way.** ”

And maybe, it’s finally time to stop being a coward about your own emotions and tell Dino what it all really means to you – which means asking the school gardener for a shovel and promising that you’re not using it for anything illegal. 

“It seems that she is heading towards the mansion,” the man watching over you tells Romario, “She’s dug up something from the old tree as well.” 

Dino quirks an eyebrow from his desk, unsure of what you could be planning. While, he had realized that he loved you, Dino was also coming to realize that you hid a lot of your emotions from him most of the time, he knew that there were things that bothered you since becoming a couple though he couldn’t find a way to compromise with you if he didn’t know what they are. So, he waits – waits until you are standing in front of him in a dirty pale blue dress, a nervous look on your face, and a very old letter in your hands. 

“There are things that bother me,” you pause for a moment as he turns his body to look at you, “Things that have bothered me since day one, but I’m not very good with words, so I decided to give you this instead.” 

“What’s this?” Dino asks as you hand him the weathered letter with his name written beautifully on the front. Your heart pumps loudly in your ears because this is what you have been waiting years for, this isn’t him declaring his intentions, but you are making him realize that it’s always been him – for all your life it’s only been him, and that’s a little daunting. 

“A love letter,” is the only way you can respond back. 

“Since when?” _have you loved me_ , is the thing that gets left out, as a blush mars your face and in turn one starts to scatter on his own as a result. 

“Since before I left for college, longer than that even,” you breathe out as he takes the letter and opens it. Honey brown eyes scan through the page and though you have been calling him yours for a while now, it’s still scary to have all your most intimate feelings being read by him.

_I love you, Dino but sometimes it hurts – and I don’t think love is supposed to hurt that way. I’m scared that if I ever tell you…you’ll hate me, that you’ll tell me that you don’t see me in the way I see you. Worst, that you might find someone better…someone that understands all your pain and suffering in a way that I can’t. I am childish and selfish, but it’s my worst fear. So, I’m leaving, somewhere where these feelings don’t drive me crazy because I can’t stand watching your happiness be with someone else. I loved you since that kiss and damn, I don’t think I have ever stopped._

You let out a shaky breath as brown eyes look at you with a different array of emotions. You let out a chocked sob at this question, because Dino since those dreams began has had his own irrational fears about all this as well.

“Are you leaving?” 

“No, that’s from when I was going to England,” he sighs at your clarification and pulls you into his body by placing his hands on your hips, “But, those fears haven’t changed – I want to know everything, but I’m scared of it all too, you know?” 

“You’ll think that you’ll wake up and its some type of wonderful nightmare, huh?” Dino replies like he is talking from experience, as you nod. 

“I can’t say I’ve loved you as long,” he murmurs as you give him a watery smile, “But, I love you now and I want to make it work. I want talk about it – everything and make it work, sweetheart.”

“I want to try too,” you whisper and place a soft kiss on his forehead, and he lets you sit on his lap, work and Romario clearly forgotten for the rest of the night. The two of you talk about everything and though there is some fighting in between eating dinner, compromises and understandings are made as well. He promises to let you in more, to have the men be more conspicuous at your workplace and you promise to take self-defense lessons but also to try to open up more when something is bothering you, even if it’s only through paper. 

By late evening, you slowly find yourself falling asleep on the blond’s shoulder. He laughs softly as you snuggle closer to his neck, as you murmur about being sleepy and though he can’t feel his legs for a moment, Dino manages to pick you up and walks from his study to an all too familiar guest room. You grab his shirt collar and shake your head.

“Wanna stay with you,” you mumble drowsily, which just causes Dino to smile even more. 

“Okay, sweetheart,” he replies and can’t help but laugh at your suddenly red face, still not used to the new nickname. He grins as you hit his shoulder lightly, now this was something he could get used to.


	8. orchard

Age 32.

It would be a lie to say that Dino hasn't thought of this particular day, this particular hour since the moment he slipped that ring on your finger, since he promised to protect and love you until the day you died. But, did he already know when that moment was it or had it changed in Kanagawa all those years ago, because the future he had seen himself was completely different than the one he had now. The Dino from his dream wasn't married (at least not yet), he didn't have---

"Papa! We wanna see papa!" two voice yell as an exasperated you is heard trying to appease them by telling them that he was working right now, but it doesn't stop the two 5-year-old than you have both spoiled rotten. The door open and two dark-haired children run up to the Cavallone boss, asking him to join them for lunch. He smiles, as they giggle and all you can do is shake your head.

"Please, just for lunch!" the younger one, a boy with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes pulls on his sleeve. 

"We finished our lessons and Mama--"the girl starts, she has darker hair and your eyes, with her frantic look on her expression and at the mention of the mother, Dino's eyes grow a fraction.

"Guilietta!" you declare in makeshift anger, as your daughter puts her tiny hands over her mouth, her brother shakes his head as Dino looks at his young children. While, the twins --Guilietta and Giacomo- had come early on in your marriage, but they hadn't been any less welcomed by the Cavallone family; in fact they were dotted on by all the members, but especially Romario. You and their tutors were usually the "bad guys" when punishments were due, though they were relatively well-behaved and taking after Dino's scary-cat self, unless their Uncle Squalo visited and then all hell broke lose.

"We have a surprise," Giacomo finishes his older sister's sentence, clearly more level-headed one of the two, Brown eyes turn to look at you, as you turn away which causes him to raise an eyebrow. So, in all his curiosity he agrees to head to the gardens and have a family lunch, though all the while fully aware of the time and how much of it you might have left. You smile at him across the table and his blood runs cold.

_there is blood seeping through your cobalt-colored sundress. he is screaming out orders, as his men give chase. you fall into his arms, but his whispers fall onto deaf ears._

_"i'm sorry."_

He shakes his head and watches the children pull out drawings from their pockets. It is of the whole family, but with new additions though Gia's had a boy in his and Guilietta's has two more people added to her drawing and you're in the middle with small ultrasound of a tiny bean that is in your belly. It takes Dino awhile to understand everything that is going on in that moment as a goofy smile grows on his face, as his now eldest children declare.

"Mama's having another baby!" there are tears in your eyes as Dino gets up from his seat and grabs your cheeks with his hands, asking a million times if it's true and all you do is say yes. His kisses you, full of love and relief as the clock passes its designated time. He's already planning a million different things for this new child from tutors to designs for their room., but through all of it he loved you more for giving him the things he never thought he would have -- love, family, endless joy.

"I love you, sweetheart." 

_(In the levity of the new he just received, Dino doesn't see someone hidden in the leaves of the forest no too far away from the mansion. He doesn't hear the pop and release as the bullet starts wheezing through the air and towards his small family, but you do and in the end you do what any mother would._

_"Gulie! Gia, duck!"_

_You run and duck the two startled children into your body. You let out a silent scream as the bullet pierces your lower body and there is blood everywhere, the children are crying as Dino makes his way back into the garden. He drags your body away because even with everything, he still couldn't fucking change the future. He's crying into your neck, as you try to calm him down -- promise everything is going to be okay when it isn't._

_"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."_

_"I-love you...always.)_

The moment passes and you glance at Dino to see the scared look on his face, a tears start to gather in the corner of his eyes and the children are asking if he is okay. He lets out a shaky laugh and pulls you as the tears keep running down your neck as he nuzzles closer to you. He pulls you close, needs to know that you are alive, breathing and full of life next to him. However, for once in your relationship you are too afraid to ask -- too afraid and worried about your husband instead. You push the children inside and move Dino forward as best you can. The twins asks what's wrong, but are moved with the lie that their father is just processing all the information, and once they leave Dino kisses you hard and desperate because in another future --once again-- he losses you and maybe in this moment, he realizes just how lucky this version of him will always have you -- alive and breathing.

"Dino, are you all right?"

" _I love you_ , and the kids. And, I'll love this baby, you know that **right**?" 

"I know, and we love you too. Always."

He peppers you with kisses, and there is never a day that he lets you forget all that he said.

**one day, love might have an expiration date.**


End file.
